Evacuated

Russian Supreme Court Renders Unjust Decision!
Special Report now available on JW Broadcasting.
https://tv.jw.org/#en/video/VODOurOrganization/pub-jwb_201704_12_VIDEO

Pleasure! 

What about the quotes in the Greek scriptures from the Hebrew scriptures.... must Jehovah's name be taken out there too? I am merely following through on your thoughts and criticisms.
One either accepts the name Jehovah and give it the honor it deserves (wherever and whenever you can) or one does not.
One can get mired down in little details and lose sight of the big picture: - that it is important to acknowledge the true god's name whenever you can.  In my studies of the Bible I have found that many humans equate Jehovah on a level with Jesus (because of his death and ransom) but this is very wrong because Jehovah is supreme and all else are merely his 'creations'. Jesus is the firstborn of all creation (Col1:15). Jehovah was the one who sent Jesus to the earth and it was ultimately Jehovah's kindness that made it possible for Jesus to come. "for god (Jehovah) so much loved the world that he sent his only begotten son." he loved us while we were sinners and prepared a body for Christ that would be sacrificed.  Jehovah used his spirit to put the life of Jesus in the womb of Mary. (phil: 2)
This is why the name he chose for himself and the meaning of the name is so important. When one studies the bible one sees that he is in reality so high that we cannot fathom anything about him except what our human frailty allows us to see and what he has allowed to be written about himself as well as the restoration of his purpose concerning the earth.
The entire Hebrew scriptures is dedicated to Jehovah and his plans (purpose for mankind's future) and Israel was chosen to bring forth the messiah (Jesus has a genealogy of 2025 years).  Israel was a nation dedicated to Jehovah and were severely punished because they brought other gods before Jehovah.  They were a dedicated nation to Jehovah and were supposed to love Jehovah with their whole heart (as Jesus said).
Jesus did not come to criticize the scholars of his time and their actions to remove Gods name... The bible shows in John 17 that he had made the name of god known everywhere he went... He knew the scholars were white washed graves - so he did not answer the Pharisees at all  - unless there were others present who could benefit by his answer.  Jesus taught about the future Kingdom and Jehovah gave him holy spirit to heal people as a sign that God has sent him. The Pharisees  turned against Jesus when he called himself the 'son" of God.
Do you acknowledge the name Jehovah, Jahweh or Jehwah or any of the acceptable forms of the name or do you throw out the cat with the bathwater and sit with the empty dish?
The Bible is one entity - one cannot throw the Hebrew scriptures away - because this is the "timeline" of how Jehovah has been working throughout the ages toward his purpose of appointing a future government that would rectify all the problems on earth - which also included the ransom sacrifice that came exactly when Jehovah predicted it in the prophecies in Daniel.
Jesus is going to hand his Kingdom back to god/father (Jehovah) when he has completed the job he was anointed for, namely to bring mankind back to perfection and make the earth into a beautiful paradise like Jehovah originally intended. 1 Cor 15:24. Eph 1:9  Jesus is the guarantee that Jehovah's plans are going to be fulfilled.  The honor and glory ultimately belong to Jehovah the creator. Rev 4:11
By the way in the New World translation there is a segment which shows that there are fragments of the Septuagint (translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek) which were found in the 20th century - which was available during the time of Jesus - which contained the Tetramagrammaton -JHWH- written in Hebrew letters. So when Jesus quoted from this he definitely used the name Jehovah.
 
 
 

If you knew Hebrew or Arabic you will know that the consonants alone (without vowels) stand for a specific meaning. The letters KTB stand for the word Book in arabic. More than ten words can be made out of these consonants by changing the points/diacritics/vowels and all relate to books, places where one finds books, or writing.
Similarly - in Hebrew - (related Semitic language) we find that the verb from these 4 letters JHWH carries the causative form of the verb which means "I shall prove to be"  and the noun would mean - he causes - in causative form - to become.   So the Vowels are not that important but the CoNSoNaNTS always are! - unlike other languages.  This is why Hebrew and related languages are all written only with consonants - the diacritics are added for readers who are beginners only.
We say JaHWeH but in other translations Jehovah (or something close to this - depending on the language) is acceptable. The translation of Jesus is actually Jasu-3a/Jeshua but when we speak everyone knows that you are acknowledging Jesus. It is the acknowledgement of the name that counts.
Jehovah knows the heart of each individual and he is the one who can see if we acknowledge HIS name and we believe that this name (which is associated with his final purpose for the earth, Jesus' sacrifice and also associated with His wonderful qualities), as set out in the Bible, is the true god which we as individuals acknowledge.
 
Many of the old languages such as the Greek do not have the indefinite article "a" - just like Arabic.  So one ads letters when one speaks of "the" or there is a declension...... something in the word changes to show  a different form.   John 1:1  Theon and Theos.... are two different forms of the word god.....in one the word "a " must be added in the English because English has this word "a" in it but it is this what is meant by Theos - so one does not need a medium to tell you this - all one needs is a bit of knowledge of the language.
 
declension: (in the grammar of Latin, Greek, and certain other languages) the variation of the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, by which its grammatical case, number, and gender are identified
 
 

@David Normand said: "really thought by some of the questions that the Justices asked that they would have dealt with us in an even handed manner."
Sounds like a decision already made. Sad day for Russia.
But............Jehovah and Jesus know what they are doing even if we are not always sure. This issue has resulted in massive media interest worldwide, and comment from all sorts of people, some in very high places. How long would we have taken to accomplish the same? And how much more with the appeal now? Reminds me of Paul when imprisoned in Rome. 
"my prison bonds for the sake of Christ have become public knowledge among all the Prae·toʹri·an Guard and all the rest. Now most of the brothers in the Lord have gained confidence because of my prison bonds, and they are showing all the more courage to speak the word of God fearlessly." Ph.1:13-14

 

@Witness........it is worth considering the words of Jehovah, as spoke through the prophet Jeremiah at                          Jeremiah 26:12,13 . . .Jeremiah then said to all the princes and to all the people: “It was Jehovah who sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. 13 So now, reform your ways and your actions and obey the voice of Jehovah your God, and Jehovah will change his mind concerning the calamity that he has spoken against you...............I guess as the Sovereign of the universe Jehovah can do whatever he wishes, BUT, one thing we can be sure of, is that His original purpose for our earth, will not be thwarted by anyone. 

Agree. This was going to be a win for the Witnesses no matter which way the court had ruled. Even the European Union had a statement in favor of the Witnesses. (Rejected for inclusion, of course.)
Putin, although he is far from fulfilling the role, has been projected as a kind of "hitler" recently in US mainstream news. It was a perfect time for persecution by his state if we were looking for publicity. For Witnesses personally, both worldwide and in Russia, this also energizes even the most inactive among us as persecution anywhere always does. All that is really lost is some of the material benefits of having a religious organization. Spiritual ties can grow even stronger under such circumstances.
But this is high profile publicity. The world has taken notice. Furthermore, as the recent post from Ann O'maly shows, it will hardly have any effect on the Russian Witnesses themselves, who will likely grow at the same rate or better.
 

Why banning the Jehovah’s Witnesses won’t work for Russia
BY EMILY B. BARAN APRIL 20TH 2017 The Supreme Court of Russia has a decision to make this week about whether to label the Jehovah’s Witnesses an extremist organization and liquidate its assets. This act would transform the religious community into a criminal network, and make individual Witnesses vulnerable to arrest simply for speaking about their faith with others. While the court case has attracted recent media attention, this move is the culmination of two decades of increasing state hostility to Witnesses. In the late 1990s, Moscow took the Witnesses to court to deny them legal standing in the city limits. After several years of court hearings, the city banned the organization. In more recent years, anti-extremism laws drafted in the wake of domestic terrorism have been turned against Witness magazines and books. Currently, over eighty publications have been placed on the federal list of extremist materials. Even their website is now illegal. So is My Book of Bible Stories, an illustrated book for children, listed alongside publications by terrorist organizations.
If the state criminalizes the Witnesses, it will represent a major deterioration in religious toleration in post-Soviet Russia. It will also put Russia at odds with the European Court of Human Rights, which has repeatedly ruled in favor of the Witnesses in the past two decades. It may make other minority faiths vulnerable to similar legal challenges. In the 1990s, scholars spoke of a newly opened religious marketplace, in which post-Soviet citizens, freed from the constraints of state-enforced atheism, shopped around among the faith traditions. It is fair to say that these days, this marketplace has fewer customers, fewer stalls, and more regulations.
If history is any guide, Russia will find it nearly impossible to eliminate Jehovah’s Witnesses. Soviet dissident author Vladimir Bukovsky once admiringly wrote of the Witnesses’ legendary persistence under ban. When the Soviet Union barred religious literature from crossing its borders, Witnesses set up underground bunkers to print illegal magazines for their congregations. When Soviet officials prohibited Witnesses from hosting religious services, they gathered in small groups in their apartments, often in the middle of the night. Sometimes they snuck away to nearby woods or out onto the vast steppe, where they could meet with less scrutiny. When the state told believers that they could not evangelize their faith to others, Witnesses chatted up their neighbors, coworkers, and friends. When these actions landed them in labor camps, Witnesses sought out converts among their fellow prisoners. Witnesses are certain to revive many of these tactics if placed in similar circumstances in the future.
Moreover, technology makes it far more difficult for Russia to control the religious practices of its citizens. Although the Witnesses’ official website is no longer available in Russia, individual members can easily share religious literature through email or dozens of other social media platforms and apps. While Soviet Witnesses had to write coded reports and hand-deliver them through an underground courier network, Witnesses today can text this information in seconds. Technology will also facilitate meeting times for religious services in private homes.
The Russian government simply does not have the manpower to enforce its own ban. It is hard to imagine that local officials could effectively prevent over 170,000 people across more than 2,000 congregations from gathering together multiple times per week, as Witnesses do worldwide. The case of Taganrog is instructive. Several hundred Witnesses lived there in 2009, when the city declared the organization illegal. A few years later, it convicted sixteen Witnesses for ignoring the ban and continuing to gather their congregations for services. The state spent over a year in investigations and court hearings for sixteen people, a tiny fraction of the total congregation, and then suspended the sentences and fines rather than waste more resources in following through on its punishment guidelines. There are not enough police officers in Russia to monitor the daily activities of each and every Witness, and the Witnesses know it. Under a ban, everyone will face more scrutiny, a few will be dealt more serious consequences, and most will continue practicing their faith regardless.
Russia may nonetheless decide that all of this conflict is worth it. After all, Soviet officials were fairly successful in relegating Witnesses to the margins of society. Few Russians will complain if Witnesses no longer come to knock on their door. After all, even Americans rarely have kind words for religious missionaries at their own doorsteps. In my own research, I have never heard a single Russian, other than a scholar, say anything positive about Witnesses. For the record, my experience with Americans has been similar. On a more basic level, Russian citizens may not even notice the Witnesses’ absence from public life. While the post-Soviet period saw a religious revival for all faiths, far fewer joined the Witnesses than the Russian Orthodox Church. For all their recent growth in membership, the Witnesses remain a tiny minority in a largely secular society.
The vocal determination of Witnesses not to acquiesce to state demands should not cause observers to overlook the very real damage a ban would do to this community. Yes, Witnesses have faced similar challenges before and have dealt with them. For decades, they held their baptisms in local rivers and lakes under cover of night. In the post-Soviet period, new members were finally able to celebrate their baptisms in full view of their fellow believers at public conventions. A long-time Witness who attended one of these events in the early 1990s recalled, “What happiness, what freedom!” A new ban would mean a return to this underground life, to a hushed ceremony in cold waters. This is not what freedom of conscience looks like in modern states.
Emily B. Baran is the author of Dissent on the Margins: How Jehovah’s Witnesses Defied Communism and Lived to Preach About It. Her work explores the shifting contours of dissent and freedom in the Soviet Union and its successor states. She is Assistant Professor of History at Middle Tennessee State University.

@David Normand said: "really thought by some of the questions that the Justices asked that they would have dealt with us in an even handed manner."
Sounds like a decision already made. Sad day for Russia.
But............Jehovah and Jesus know what they are doing even if we are not always sure. This issue has resulted in massive media interest worldwide, and comment from all sorts of people, some in very high places. How long would we have taken to accomplish the same? And how much more with the appeal now? Reminds me of Paul when imprisoned in Rome. 
"my prison bonds for the sake of Christ have become public knowledge among all the Prae·toʹri·an Guard and all the rest. Now most of the brothers in the Lord have gained confidence because of my prison bonds, and they are showing all the more courage to speak the word of God fearlessly." Ph.1:13-14

 

"Scientists and religious scholars team up to try and find living descendents of Jesus"
Sounds like the newspaper has added the descendant bit. Anyway, I hope the Scientists and religious scholars are funding it themselves!

"Scientists and religious scholars team up to try and find living descendents of Jesus"
Sounds like the newspaper has added the descendant bit. Anyway, I hope the Scientists and religious scholars are funding it themselves!

Anything can turn peoples interest if Jehovah's wants it and if they have an enquiring mind. I met a woman once who said she came to the Circuit Assembly because her neighbour had been disfellowshipped. I was puzzled and asked her how so? She said because the neighbour had started behaving so badly since leaving Jehovah's Witnesses, she had to come and see why they had been so much better before.
One of the first pieces of information I ever read on Jehovah's Witnesses was a trash UK newspaper article on Jehovah's Witnesses being crazy for not celebrating Christmas, birthdays etc. This just made me curious because I wondered how they had the guts to do it with so much bad publicity.

Because there isn't any. If they submit fabricated evidence for scrutiny, they will have a problem. Let's hope there is more justice in the Supreme Court than in the Ministry of.
I find it ironic that even some posters on this site seem to see evidence of extremism that the Russian lawyers cannot!

YES WELL IT HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED THAT APOSTATES GAVE MUCH OF THE INFO THAT THE MINISTRY ARE USING. NO WONDER THEY ARE FAULTERING WHEN THEY TRY TO FIGHT AGAINST THE ONLY TRUE GOD.

Because there isn't any. If they submit fabricated evidence for scrutiny, they will have a problem. Let's hope there is more justice in the Supreme Court than in the Ministry of.
I find it ironic that even some posters on this site seem to see evidence of extremism that the Russian lawyers cannot!

Interesting....Probably all sorts of things in the mix, but actually.............  
"God put it into their hearts to carry out his thought, yes, to carry out their one thought by giving their kingdom to the wild beast, until the words of God will have been accomplished..........why in one day her plagues will come, death and mourning and famine, and she will be completely burned with fire, because Jehovah God, who judged her, is strong" Rev 1717; 18:8.
And also: "And out of his mouth protrudes a sharp, long sword with which to strike the nations, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron. Moreover, he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his outer garment, yes, on his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords" Rev 1915-16.
Meanwhile, we have work to do along with those "who observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness concerning Jesus." Rev12:17.
 

FROM JW.ORG :"The Ministry has performed numerous inspections of the Witnesses’ legal entities and submitted volumes of these inspection reports to the Court. Yet, when questioned, the Ministry could not identify a single incident in which the Witnesses engaged in extremist activity.
During the review, the attorneys representing the Ministry of Justice could not specify a legal basis for targeting the Administrative Center for liquidation or any extremist action on the part of either the Administrative Center or any Local Religious Organizations (LROs) used by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia.
THESE ARE VERY COMPETENT LAWYERS FOR RUSSIA YET THEY CANNOT "SEE" ANY EVIDENCE OR LEGAL BASIS TO BAN THEM.
ANGELIC INTERFERENCE FOR THE DEFENSE. DOWN TO THE ONE YARD LINE NOW.

Anything can turn peoples interest if Jehovah's wants it and if they have an enquiring mind. I met a woman once who said she came to the Circuit Assembly because her neighbour had been disfellowshipped. I was puzzled and asked her how so? She said because the neighbour had started behaving so badly since leaving Jehovah's Witnesses, she had to come and see why they had been so much better before.
One of the first pieces of information I ever read on Jehovah's Witnesses was a trash UK newspaper article on Jehovah's Witnesses being crazy for not celebrating Christmas, birthdays etc. This just made me curious because I wondered how they had the guts to do it with so much bad publicity.

Interesting....Probably all sorts of things in the mix, but actually.............  
"God put it into their hearts to carry out his thought, yes, to carry out their one thought by giving their kingdom to the wild beast, until the words of God will have been accomplished..........why in one day her plagues will come, death and mourning and famine, and she will be completely burned with fire, because Jehovah God, who judged her, is strong" Rev 1717; 18:8.
And also: "And out of his mouth protrudes a sharp, long sword with which to strike the nations, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron. Moreover, he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his outer garment, yes, on his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords" Rev 1915-16.
Meanwhile, we have work to do along with those "who observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness concerning Jesus." Rev12:17.
 

You know it's not worth reading an article which has this in the first paragraph on doctorine: "Jehovah’s Witnesses reject most Christian dogmas, such as creation of the world,"

More:
http://tass.com/world/939582..........    No Thanks!!

Just seemed a hint of presupposition that an "Extraterrestrial sentient life form" would have a need of baptism. Apologies for any misunderstanding.
 https://www.theworldnewsmedia.org/topic/22527-jws-in-space/
 

As they have stated themselves recently.
In discussing the functioning of the Governing Body, the February 2017 study issue WT says::
"And each member of that body views himself, not as the leader of his fellow brothers, but as one of the “domestics,” fed by the faithful slave and subject to its oversight." P29 para 11.

Thanks @Eoin Joyce.  Your comment is pretty much my thoughts too. Why I pushed that point about the FDS was because some have the attitude (and opposers love pointing this out) that we believe that we are somehow dependent on the FSD for surviving the great tribulation, i.e. that they play a direct role or special role in our outcome, and that without them we would not be able to make it. This is why I kept harping on about WHAT is the REAL criterion for us surviving. It's not the FDS obviously, although as you have rightly pointed out, their role in helping us to maintain our loyalty to Jehovah has not been small by any means. And as you say, yes, we could spend a lot of time speculating on how the actual scenarios will play out, because we just don't know. But that wasn't really my concern. My concern was that readers don't get the impression that we are putting the FDS above the place they were given by Jesus, or on par with Jesus, because each of them individually are also the domestics, like everyone else in the Christian congregation.

Oh yes I have!!